As a remote assistance tool, AnyDesk is a very practical solution that helps users in difficult times. Without much requirements, it is simple and convenient to use anytime.
This tool is now under fire from critics, after discovering a reworked broadcast campaign. It has been at the top of Google searches and contains a dangerous and insecure Trojan horse.
Anydesk was targeted in this campaign
One of the most common practices for finding programs is to search for your name on Google. Search results quickly appear above the search, giving the user quick access to your installation.
This is exactly the problem that AnyDesk is facing right now. The malicious ad campaign places a modified, deceptive version at the top of Google's results, along with the Trojan horse. Once installed, it puts systems security at risk.
It can be accessed in Google Search
The campaign will start on April 21, 2021, and upon installation it downloads and places a Powershell malware into the system. It appears to be dedicated to processing and gathering sensitive information, which is focused on user data.
On clicking the malicious ad, users are redirected to the cloned AnyDesk site. This is a tampered modified version of AnyDesk that puts user safety at risk.
The version with two breaks the security
Depending on what was possible, 40% of the ad clicks resulted in the installation of the modified version of AnyDesk. Of that amount, roughly 20% will involve manual action by users during the installation process of this version.
With 300 million installations announced by the company, AnyDesk is a success story. The recommendation in this case is to remove the installed version and evaluate the security of the system on which it is installed. This way everything can be handled and hence the correct version must be installed directly from the AnyDesk site.
